Cancer research or drugs treating cardiovascular illnesses could win a Nobel Prize on Monday when a week of laureate announcements kicks off, bringing a ray of optimism to a world beset by crises. Awarded since 1901, the Nobel Prizes honour those who have, in the words of prize creator and scientist Alfred Nobel, "conferred the greatest benefit on humankind", highlighting encouraging advances at a time when the world is witnessing devastating wars in the Middle East and Ukraine and a climate on the brink of collapse. The Nobel Prize in Medicine is first out, announced on Monday around 11:30am in Stockholm.
Among those seen as possible laureates is Kevan Shokat, an American biologist who figured out how to block the KRAS cancer gene behind a third of cancers, including challenging-to-treat lung, colon and pancreatic tumours. "These are now being tested for new treatments thanks to his discovery," said Annika Ostman, science reporter at Swedish public radio SR. Research into how to treat cardiovascular illnesses could also get the nod, with the work of geneticists Jonathan Cohen and Helen Hobbs mentioned.
They identified genes that regulate the metabolism of essential lipids such as cholesterol, which has led to a new class of cholesterol-lowering drugs, David Pendlebury, head of the Clarivate analytics group that identifies Nobel-worthy research, told AFP . Hobbs won the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences in 2016, sharing the honour with Swedish geneticist Svante Paabo, who w.